The Entitled

source: The Entitled

A group of under-privileged kids starving for money and attention; a group of over-privileged kids starving for action and attention; a group of over-privileged adults trying to be content with their current state of life. That's "The Entitled." One group wants what the others have and the others just plain want. If you want an intelligent, thought-out thriller, you've got it. The film starts out a little pedestrian and juvenile with pointless scenes and then a few scenes continuously pointing out that our main hero was poor. But as it turns out, those scenes weren't pointless or over-done, you just had to wait until the end to figure it out. Everything contributes to the final result. Our main hero is Paul Dynan (Kevin Zegers) — broke, jobless, defeated, and almost option-less. A last ditch effort to save his mother and their house, he abducts three local rich kids, uses two misfit friends to torture them, and tries to get money out of their fathers. The brilliant aspects of this film which they did so well were the different relationship dynamics. The group of rich, entitled kids consisted of two males and one female. One couple but all three were friends. The group of poor, angry kids was exactly the same (just minus the money). The three fathers had the same relationships that their kids had, just a taller, older version. Continuing in the vein of brilliant relationship dynamics, the plot of the kidnapping was propelled forward by how everybody acted within their own group. Apparently the key to a successful crime (or not successful) is knowing how all the individuals will act. The key to a successful crime thriller is making sure that your characters act in interesting ways. The lead acting was very impressive, just as I was frequently in awe of how impressively smart the turns were in this thriller, I was amazed by how natural and creepy Zegers could be. Ray Liotta and the two other actors playing the fathers were equally as arresting. The minor actors couldn't overcome the sometimes awkward and painful dialogue. Now don't get me wrong, the screenplay by William Morrisey is actually pretty good story-wise, he just doesn't give a good voice to the over-privileged, entitled rich kids. But then again, who does? I still think the opening sequences could have been tightened up to help me realize how important they actually are to the story. But above all else, "The Entitled" made me think and I like watching films about some characters who do think and some characters who don't think. And I'll let you figure out which groups they belong to.

Overall the plot was quite interesting with numerous twists thrown in to keep you attentive. The characters were well portrayed and the acting was where it needed to be. Though there were a few scenes where emotions came across as forced (this could be my harsh critical view over-bearing). The storyline was well paced and I didn't feel bored at any point apart from a few noticeable errors in the continuity which put me off slightly. The small discrepancies in the storyline that, been explained or left out, would have made the film at least a 7/10. The protagonist (Kevin Zegers) for me was the star of the film. The character was believable and engaging and along with the narration, provided a great deal of insight into the mind of someone on a mission.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning Kevin Zegers (Paul Dynan) is a young college student, whose mother is facing eviction from her home after the bank foreclosed on it. He teams up with two other young people and kidnaps the kids of three wealthy men, hoping to extort a ransom. Naturally, things don't go to plan. It's a bit of a lottery these days, which film projects are finding their way to the big screen and which seem to just fall by the wayside and wind up as mere fodder, on a one way course to the bargain bin. Although it had the potential to be turned into a far bigger budget film, this is the direction The Entitled appears to have been thrown. Which is a shame, for although it begins a little tepidly, it soon develops into a genuinely tense, if a little flawed, piece of work. Although the set up is entirely plausible, and an interesting concept to launch on, early on the script suffers from some improbable scenes here and there, which send it down the pan a bit. Yet somehow, as it develops, it does create a genuine air of suspense and excitement about how things are going to work out, and as apparently clear cut characters receive surprise revelations in the script that make them appear not as they seemed. Somehow, by not playing out exactly as you thought it would, it still keeps you hooked and gripped to the end, even as the end outcome REALLY becomes a lot to take in. ***

After seeing the trailer I was super stoked, the trailer was so dark and it looked like it was going to be an amazing movie. The movie started off in a little bit of confusion for me, wasn't in chronological at all, which in some movies add suspense and mystery, however it mostly made me confused. Further on in movie I felt that a classic story like this, the poor jealous against the rich cocky people, but yet with a little twist. The story in my mind could have made this movie one of the best this year but yet they came up pretty short. For the acting, I was extremely surprised about the performance of the former 'gossip girl'-actor Keven Zegers, he was the one thing that kept the movie good. He was perfect for the role as the dark yet intelligent conspirator. As for the others I do feel that some of them had an adequate performance but a lot of the times the dialogues seemed strained. Laura Vandervoort was obviously in it only to play the spoiled, helpless beauty, which was done okay. To sum it up, it was an enjoyable movie, definitely watchable for a regular night but don't expect anything close to 'the movie of the year' or month for that matter. But I still give it 6, much due to the fundamental story, smartness and yet again surprisingly convincing acting from Zegers.

I watched this film with the fear that I was going to encounter yet another budget movie thrown together with a loose plot and mediocre acting. Well, needless to say, I was proved wrong on all counts. The background story was built up nicely and the plot laid out for you to see clearly, but then it twists and makes you think, then twists again making you doubt your theories of what is really going on. Liotta, Garber and McHattie were brilliant and worked perfectly together. I wouldn't mind seeing this trio working together in the future. Dustin Milligan was a surprisingly competent and believable actor which was a breath of fresh air as I don't recall ever seeing him in film before now. All in all a very good thriller/suspense that kept me entertained. Give it a watch is all I can say, hope this helps!

yes this thriller made ​​me shiver, not because of the film's content, but with the bad portrayal, weak story with bad dialogue that was empty and brain death, these three fathers, who is known for many good movies lift this movie up, not because of their performance, but their name and picture is on DVD cover, it worked and got me to buy this horrible movie. feel cheated of money and a good movie experience. you have been warned. only comfort I found was that poor B movies makes you really appreciate a good A movie and it's probably the only thing that is positive, so because of this, I give 1 star

Like others have mentioned is not the movie of the year, but it is respectable. Good director & good story. The acting and the script lack enthusiasm and spark. Fortunately the worst actor gets eliminated early on. I think he was perhaps the son of the producer or whoever financed this movie, or made it happen. The story has an elegant twist, but the story could have been developed much better to make this an excellent suspense movie. The director created enough suspense with what's given in the script, but the fact is that the story needed to be developed more to where everyone could be a real suspect. Overall, it's a pretty good movie compared to what is being produced out there, and considering there are not any big stars in this movies.

This "film" is simply awful. The writing stinks, the whole concept is stupid and sadly, totally uninteresting. But that's only half the problem. It appears as though this was shot with Dad's hand-held camcorder he bought from Best Buy last Christmas. Ever heard of a tripod? How about a steady cam? And maybe next time you could hire an editor. The non-clever dialog just runs on and on as Liotta and the other guy trade lines that are so uninspired it seems like they're reading them off cue cards for the first time, or perhaps just making them up as they go along. You can imagine Ray saying to Dad (who's holding the Sony) "Camcorder rolling? O.K., I'm gonna start yammering now. Be sure not to hold the camera too steady!" I beg you, dear IMDb reader, do not rent this movie. It's not worth anywhere near the $1.07 I spent at Redbox. I could have bought gum instead, damn!

Paul is a dis-likable young man with a plan. His mother can't afford her medication (doesn't Canada have nationalized heath care?) and they're repossessing her house. He needs money right away. He hatches a complex kidnapping plan which is supposed to be brilliant, but which is, in fact, fairly stupid. Only the intervention of the script writers allows this plan to succeed in the end. *SPOILERS* Paul recruits two psychopathic morons to assist him in his crime. Together they kidnap three adult children of some rather shady rich guys and demand a million from each parent be transferred to an offshore account. The old rich guys are obviously corrupt, though what business they're in isn't clear. These old miscreants are played by some well-known and accomplished actors, but the actors playing the young kidnappers are not so good. Anyway, as criminals they continue to make stupid mistakes, leaving fingerprints, making calls and just doing stupid things. Other reviews here have listed some of the blunders these idiots make which in the real world would land them in prison in a New York minute. Our protagonist doesn't intend for his accomplices to come out of it alive and he kills one of them personally. The girl accomplice gets kicked to death by the boy accomplice for no reason except he's a homicidal maniac. Among other contradictions is the improbability that two escaped hostages would be able to hike several miles through dense woods at night or that the ill-fated sidekicks would be able to track them. Then we come to a hole in the plot big enough to drive a minor asteroid through: after money has been transferred to the offshore account Paul calls up the fathers and tells them their children are free (actually one is already dead and two have escaped) and just not to make any phone calls or answer the phone for the next hour or so. So the dim-witted dads just sit there and don't answer the phone for the next hour as the surviving children desperately attempt to call. And of course they don't phone the police. What? These guys are supposed to be smart, though crooked, businessmen. Doesn't it occur to them that there's no possible way the kidnapper could know if they're using the phone? They don't even look at caller ID to see who's calling them! This is almost a credible thriller, if you park your brain at the door, but the ending is abysmal. Paul, the mastermind of the kidnapping, is supposed to be the entitled one, you see. He deserves the money because rich guys are always corrupt and he needs it more than they do. So in the end he gets away with 2 million and he's supposed to be the hero because he had such a smart plan. He only committed enough felonies to get life in prison. He murdered his friend and engineered a kidnapping, but he's supposed to be the hero, despite the fact that's he's an extremely unlikable pratt. Somebody in these review pages suggested that this was a right-wing scenario. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is pure leftist, entitled generation, narcissistic nonsense. "Occupiers" will love it because it sticks it to the rich guys, I mean, Paul represents the 99%, one of the liberals' beloved victims who isn't doing it out of greed but to obtain justice for his ailing mom and see that the rich bastards pay their fair share. Isn't 'social justice' what it's all about?